台灣極端金屬研究

Extreme Metal in Taiwan: An Investigation

研究生 ： 劉逸凱 Student : Damon I-Kai Liu 指導教授 ： 張靄珠 朱元鴻 Advisor : Ivy I-Chu Chang and Yuan-Hung Chu

國立交通大學

外國文學與語言學研究所文學組

碩士論文

A thesis Submitted to Instituted of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics

College of Humanities and Sciences National Chiao Tung University

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

Master In

Foreign Literature and Linguistics

July 2007

Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China

中華民國九十六年七月

摘要

本文試圖釐清台灣極端金屬音樂的發展脈絡與歷史軌跡。藉由田野調

查與參與觀查的方式，本研究盡量呈現樂手的生活風貌、音樂實踐與

發展上的困難。本文嘗試與本地搖滾論述對話，藉由一個實際上在台

灣相對不被論述重視的樂種，作者藉此探討搖滾樂在台灣發展的文化

形構，以及極端金屬如何在這樣的條件下面對困境並走出自己的路。

因此本文藉由探討裝扮在重金屬的意義、偏差的概念、音樂的挪用與

再現以及台灣極端金屬在極端金屬全球化下的地位。由以上若干環

節，本文作者試圖勾勒出台灣極端金屬一個大概的樣貌。

關鍵字：黑金屬、文化形構、死亡金屬、重金屬、搖滾樂、表演理論。

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Extreme Metal in Taiwan: An Investigation

Student: I-Kai Liu Advisor: Dr. Ivy I-Chu Chang Dr. Yuan-Hung Chu

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to examine in the first place the developmental

history of Taiwanese Extreme Metal. By adopting participant observation as his research method, this author explores the trajectory, stories, musical ideas and personal values of Extreme Metal players in Taiwan. The author begins by concluding the temporal origin of Extreme Metal as well as other related issues such as ideology of Rock, resistance and heterogeneity, influence of cultural industry and strategies of everyday life in the first chapter. The second chapter elaborates issues of drag and players’ performative strategies, with the discussion of performance in general ranging from staged performance to players’ daily life as an alternative kind of social performance, thus leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the magnitude of performance as mentioned by Victor Turner and Richard Schechner. The author goes on to expound the image of deviance imposed on players in the chapter three. By employing the theorists from Howard Becker, Emile Durkheim and Mary Douglas, the author concludes the pressure from educational system and academic inheritance of the study of Rock made the deviance formation possible. The fourth chapter discusses the players’ appropriation and representation of music. The author shows that the strategies of marketing and socio-economic background influence the players’ fame and future career. In fact, a well-designed plan is crucial for their future development. The author explores the role of technology in chapter five, arguing that not only technology is essential in making the Extreme Metal sound, it also stands at the very center of the Extreme Metal authenticity. In this regard, this author assumes that musical authenticity should be multiple rather than single because different types of music require different presentations in order to attain their aesthetic objectives. Keywords: Black Metal, Cultural Formation, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Rock Music, Performance Theories.

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Acknowledgment

I have gone through some difficulties throughout this research. There were times that I was obstructed and felt frustrated. This tiny thesis would not be successful were it not for the help from my teachers and friend. I would like to use this chance to thank my advisors Professor Ivy Chang, Yuan-Hung Chu and Chien-Chang Yang for their kind suggestions and invaluable supports. I would also like to thank Anthelion, Chthonic, Disaster, Death, Nuno and other interviewees in the thesis for their time and efforts. I also want to thank my parents for their support. Finally, I would like to thank my other friends and classmates who constantly help and support me. Thank You all guys!

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Table of Contents Chinese Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..........ii English Abstract………………………………………………………………………….iii Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………….iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………...v Index of Charts………………………………………………………………………….viii Index of Pictures………………………………………………………………………...ix Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………1 1.1 The origin of questioning…………………………………………………………1 1.2 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………1 1.2-1 Definition of music……………………………………………………………..4 1.2-2 Historical Background……………………………………………………….....5 1.2-3 Development of Black Metal…………………………………………………...6 1.2-4Themes and concepts of Black Metal…………………………………………………….............................................7 1.2-5 Musical and Performative Characteristics……………………………………..10 1.2-6 Stage Performance elements…………………………………………………...10 1.3 A History of Black Metal in Taiwan……………………………………………...11 1.3-1 Censorship and confrontations………………………………………………...12 1.3-2Politics and commercialization……………………………………………………………………13 1.3-3 Repression and heterogeneity in culture……………………………………….14 1.4 Research Method…………………………………………………………………20 1.4-1Members interviewed in the study……………………………………………………….........................................21 1.5 Other issues explored…………………………………………………………….26 1.5-1 Ideology of Rock……………………………………………………………… 26 1.5-2 Issues of Cultural Industry……………………………………………………..28 1.5-3 Strategies of everyday life…………………………………………………….. 28 Chapter two: Visual Elements in the Performance……………………………….31 2.0 The cultural Significance of Drag and cross-dressing……………………………31 2.1 Drag and cross-dressing in the Metal performance………………………………32 2.2 After ecstasy: Everyday life as alternative performance…………………………36 2.3 Everyday life and scenic involvement……………………………………………45 2.4 The Empowerment of Music……………………………………………………..47 2.5 The Social Empowerment of Music……………………………………………...49

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2.6 Pathways: The individual practice……………………………………………….51 Chapter Three: Attitude and Behavior-An Inquiry into Deviance……………....55 3.0 Interviews…………………………………………………………………………….55

3.1Cultural Formation and the Musical Grotesqueness………………………………………………………………………72

3.2 Institution and Repulsion………………………………………………………...78 3.3 The “Grotesque”…………………………………………………………………79

3.4 Deviance judgment in an evaluative context…………………………………….83 Chapter Four: Going out and Looking in--appropriation and representation of music…………………………………………………………………………………95 4.1 Themes, aesthetics and intended connotation……………………………………96 4.2 The religious-political representation of Chthonic………………………………96 4.3Anthelion--Marching out: music as other selves ……………………………………………………………………………….101 4.4 Hercules’s musical borrowing--ancient country revealed………………………103 4.5Struggle with the Globalization Process………………………………………………………………………………103 4.6 Disaster’s music: Alien Curse…………………………………………………..104 4.7 Music and its meaning…………………………………………………………..106 4.8 Struggle in progress--Disaster and the tension in musical practice……………..107 “Alien Curse” by Disaster…………………………………………………………..115 Chapter Five: Discussion on technological production………………………….124 5.1 The use of technology in their practice…………………………………………124 5.2 Technical advent and philosophical inquiry: on the cultural significance of synthesizers and electric guitar……………………………………………………...127 5.3Technology and authenticity………………………………………………………………………….134 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….137 Appendix One: Interview Questions……………………………………………..145 Appendix Two: Interviewees List…………………………………………………146 Appendix Three: Research Theses concerning Rock and Underground Music……………………………………………………………………………….147 Appendix Four: Newspaper/Periodicals on the negative impression of Rock during the “Cultural Renaissance Movement” in the 1960s and 1970s…………………………………………………………………..149 Appendix Five: Figures……………………………………………………………158

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Appendix Six: Band Albums……………………………………………………...163 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………… ….167

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Index of Charts

Chart One: Popular Artists in the 80s……………………………………………....90 Chart Two: Rock Bands in the 80s………………………………………………....91 Chart Three: Rock Bands in the 90s………………………………………………..92 Chart Four: Black, Death, Speed and Thrash Metal bands after 2000……………..94 Chart Five: “Alien Curse” by Disaster…………………………………………….115

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Index of Pictures

Picture one: Interviewee Chthonic......................................................................................................................22 Picture two: Interviewee Disaster………………………………………………………………………………23 Picture three: Interviewee Death……………………………………………………………………………........24 Picture four: Interviewee Anthelion …………………………………………………………………………….25 Picture five: CD cover of Darkthrone………………………………………………..62 Picture Six: CD cover of Sky Burial…………………………………………………62

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Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 The origin of questioning Extreme Metal (Black Metal and Death Metal) is the most violent music genre

developed so far that pushes Heavy Metal to the farthest extreme. Regardless of minor differences, characteristics like bestial shouting, speedy guitar solos and heavy drums make Black/Death Metal the best example of musical violence. Besides music, the images and philosophy of them are also shocking and controversial. For Black Metal, influences from pagan culture and Satanism have caused anti-social crimes like murder and church burning, and thus frighten people. For Death Metal, the violence and gore revealed in the lyrics also incurred incessant attacks on its ill imaginations. However, because Black and Death Metal contain dissident elements not allowed by social establishments, they are loved by specific groups of people, especially teenagers and young adults. In Taiwan, due to different cultural contexts, the development of the genre is staggering and unpromising. People’s distaste for Heavy Metal in the market makes the development of Black/Death metal much slower and more difficult. Generally speaking, the gradual success of Extreme Metal bands in Taiwan is decided upon three major factors. Firstly, it is the hard work of some pioneers who struggle to spread information and introduce music, and therefore Extreme Metal was able to develop despite the great socio-political changes. Secondly, it is the change of the socio-political environment that creates a fertile ground for this alternative subculture. It is the change in political ideology, cultural-historical imagination and the entire condition of music market that makes development possible. Finally, it is the operational strategy, the careful articulation to local and global scene that enables some Extreme Metal bands succeed. With an interest in the development of Black and Death Metal in Taiwan, and the kind of life style lead by those members, this study attempts to offer a preliminary investigation. 1.2 Literature Review

Heavy Metal is an important Rock genre that attracts scholars’ attention. Sociologists and musicologists provide much insight into this interesting subculture. For sociologists, the music and the fans of Heavy Metal direct their inquiry toward the social meaning of music, and the behavior of these people1. In the beginning, socio-musicologist Theodore Adorno has discussed the social foundation of music. He thinks that although music is a spiritual and individualistic product it is in fact influenced by the social and historical conditions of each artist. However, owing to

1. The ideas of these scholars and theorists will be further discussed in the latter part in literature review and relevant issues concerning this type of music.

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Adorno’s personal taste, he fails to see the values of other musical genres. He fails to recognize his own limit that his priority over classical music is itself a very bourgeois and economically privileged choice. For example, Jazz music, as well as other non-classical music would be undervalued by Adorno’s standards. In the late 1970s, Simon Frith had inaugurated a groundbreaking research on popular music. He tried to study the social components of music like age groups, gender, class, musical influence, space of performance and the study of market. Frith succeeds in outlining a clear picture of the entire subcultural genre- how it is formed, how it attracts people, the economical and other requirements that may prevent people form joining musical activities, and makes subcultural music target of academic research. Frith places more emphasis on the sociological aspect than the musical side. His theory fails to explore the musical elements- composition, styles, reception and feelings of music. Therefore, his theory is a bit insufficient in elaborating the profundity of music, especially for musical genres marked for musical richness and sophistication, like Rock and Heavy Metal.

In the mid 80s, Deena Weinstein’s “Heavy Metal: the music and subculture” successfully combines the social analysis of the subculture and appreciation of the music. She describes the history of Heavy Metal in the first four chapters and then turns to musical analysis in the last three. She connects the aesthetic origins of Heavy Metal with contemporary American history and then assumes that such aesthetic elements are an unavoidable development in the American culture. Deena Weinstein’s research is detailed and unique. She combines the insiders’ perspective with clear yet insightful observations. She defines Heavy Metal as thematically romantic and musically chaotic, and thus it relates to the minds of the American youth that needs identification in the age of over-industrialization. She speaks for the Heavy Metal whereas her enthusiasm also incurs critic from some aspects in the American society. However, her work is still pivotal in initiating a cultural investigation of the genre. As she explores the depth with academic deliberation, she becomes one of the most important scholars in the study of Heavy Metal in the U.S.

Similarly, Robert Walser’s “Running with the Devil: power, gender, and madness in heavy metal music＂offers other points of analysis. To complement Weinstein’s rather historical and introductory discourse, Walser provides more theoretical arguments in issues like male-dominance, visual performance and cross-dressing, moral and social controversies as well as philosophical significance the music may have. Walser interrogates such issues with sociological and musicological theories, and sees the underlying veins behind the fury, providing a very instructive exploration for both fans and scholars. Following Weinstein and Walser, researchers of Extreme Metal employ a similar reasoning, in epistemologies yet differing in methodologies in

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exploring the controversial issues of the genre. On the discussion of Death Metal, Harris Berger takes Weinstein’s method a step further with a deeper perspective. He interviews and lives with an Ohio Death Metal band Akron as to indigenize the theoretical analysis. In his words, he uses situational phenomenology to claim that listeners’ agency lies in the freedom in choosing to what he wants to listen. Therefore, our choice of listening and our intention of focus, with pretension and retention in our perception in fact differ and are the basis of our agency. This is shown in the music we choose to listen to.

Natalie Purcell, in her “Death Metal Music: the Passion and Politics of the Subculture” presents a complete picture of American Death Metal. She offers a detailed analysis on many aspects concerning the genre such as opinions from fans, reactions of the players to the public and the moral crusade targeting on American Death Metal band “Cannibal Corpse” by the U.S. Senators. This book is basically the collection of her extensive fieldwork, in which she combines both qualitative and quantitative methods in the design of her questionnaire and problematic. On the issue of globalization and dissemination of the music, Keith Kahn-Harris renders a very important line of reasoning in how Extreme Metal is conceived into myriad local contexts. While the above-mentioned theorist basically focus on the U.S-based phenomena, Harris focuses more on the dissemination of the genre, as well as how the music is articulated with other meanings by musicians from different locales. Then, Harris provides a very important exploration into the issue of musical appropriation and representation, which in return amplifies the research scope of Extreme Metal.

On the other hand, study of ethnomusicology provides useful methods and arguments on intercultural musical studies. According to Bruno Nettle (1983), the method of doing ethnomusicology mainly falls on the two areas of study-anthropology and musicology. According to him, the credo of ethnomusicology is:

1) we endeavor to study total musical system an, in order to comprehend them, follow a comparative approach, believing that comparative study, properly carried out, provides important insights. Our areas of concentration is music that is accepted by an entire society as its own, and we reserve a lesser role for the personal, the idiosyncratic, the exceptional, in this way differing from the historian of music. We are most interested what is typical in culture. 2) We believe that music must be understood as apart of culture, a product of human society, and while many pieces of research do not directly address the problem, we insist on this belief as an essential ingredient of our approach. We are interested in the way in which a culture musically defines itself, but

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also in the way it changes its music, and thus we also stress the understanding of musical change, less in terms of the events than in the process. (9)

As Nettle mentions, the credo of ethno musicology is at first to comprehend how music is accepted by the entire society, and how society and culture influence the change of musical style. Moreover, the task of ethnomusicology is to evaluate the ways in which societies conceive musical creation and to derive an analytical system academically (Nettle 1983: 27). Alan Merriam (1964) also stresses that ethnomusicology is to be defined as the study of music in culture which implies that ethnomusicology is composed of both an anthropological investigation combined with musical analysis. Since it is human who creates music, the research of musical sounds should cover the study of socio-cultural comprehension. He contends that:

To these various definitions I have elsewhere added my own, stating that for me ethno musicology is to be defined as “the study of music in culture” (Merriam 1960), but it is important that this definition be thoroughly explained if it is to be properly understood. Implicit in it is the assumption that ethnomusicology is made up both of the musicological and the ethnological, and the music sound is the result of human behavioral processes that are shaped by the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the people who comprise a particular culture. Music sound cannot be produced except by people for other people, and although we can separate the two aspects conceptually, one is not really complete without the other. Human behavior produces music, but the process is one of continuity; the behavior itself s shaped to produce music, and thus the study of one flows into the other. (6)

This author also employs the method of ethnomusicology in order to expand the scope of observation in his study. His intention is to complement the epistemological lack of local popular music discourses focusing disproportionately on social theories rather than on actual observation. The author believes that it is important to offer the first-hand description. He also thinks that theorization based on field study would provide unique yet insightful argumentation compared with mere explanation of theoretical texts. In the latter part of this paper, this author continues to resort to his field observation in order to converse with theories on the greater scale.

1.2-1 Definition of the music

Death Metal is one style of the Extreme Metal genre. It is usually played at extreme fast tempo, usually exceeding 200 beats per measure. The sound of guitar is

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tuned down much lower; and because drummers usually use double pedals, it would sound like canons firing. The vocal, sounding more like a beast growling instead of a man singing, is the result of purposeful guttural sounds. Generally, it’s difficult to understand the lyrics in Death Metal clearly even we resort to the lyric book. The combination of these instruments would be too noisy and indigestible to common people. However, for other Rock fans, Extreme Metal is equally awfully unacceptable. Nevertheless, Death Metal is not mere noise. It is not just an action for destruction. Death Metal claims a higher level of musical skill and virtuosity than other Rock genres. Good Death Metal pieces require complicated composition and excellent skills. To reach excellence, players have to spend more energy in practicing compared to any other Rock genres. 1.2-2 Historical Background

The prototype of Extreme Metal emerged even before 1990. In 1981, British Heavy Metal band “Venom” released their album” Welcome to Hell”, which already had the rudiments of Black Metal today. From 1985, in band “Death” and “Possessed” in Florida, the contemporary Death Metal elements like bestial growling, distorted guitar riffs and intrusive percussion had gradually appeared. Since then, a new Heavy Metal genre had formally emerged. Besides the watering from bands of New Wave of British Heavy Metal like Iron Maiden and Venom, another important influence to Death Metal is an American Thrash Metal band named “Slayer”. The 1983 “Show no mercy” and 1985 “Reign in Blood” from Slayer exert vast influence on the subsequent development of American Death Metal. In fact, precursors Death Metal music like “Death” and “Possessed” sound more like the combination of today’s Death Metal and Thrash Metal. The maturation of Death Metal came in at the late 80’s, when it was combined with hardcore Punk and gave birth to their progeny. called Grindcore. The most mature Death Metal emerged from 1990, when Florida Death Metal act “Deicide” unleashed their album “Deicide” with full throttle. The angry, repulsive and cynical voice of Deicide’s vocalist Glen Benton opened a new page for Heavy Metal. Meanwhile, the main Grindcore bands in U.K also turned to Death Metal; this change could be seen in Napalm Death’s 1989 “Mentally Murdered” and Carcass’s “Symphonies of Sickness” album. Then, it influenced Swedish Black Metal band Entombed in their album “Left hand Path”. Entombed then became one of the most renowned Swedish Black Metal band in the world. Sweden also turned into world’s Black Metal powerhouse since then.

From late 80’s to mid 90’s, Florida had become the center of American Death Metal. Following Death, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, more Death Metal bands appeared during this period. Besides, the advancement of recording technology led to

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a better sound quality of forthcoming Death Metal albums that the guttural human voices and punching bass drums were better combined than the previous albums. It also helped present a much more complicated composition and musical structure. In fact, when it was hay day for Death Metal in America, there were always some bands in every state that were worth mentioning. By this time, Thrash Metal has been dethroned and Death Metal was the new king. Death Metal had become more and more popular and assimilated into the mainstream market. There were even death metal albums entering Billboard top 100, which was the best footnote for this phenomenon. As Death Metal reached its zenith, some bands had become milder and much more milder and catchier. Deicide’s “Once Upon the Cross, Incantation’s “Mortal Throne of Nazarene”, Death’s “Individual Thought Pattern” was not that violent. Although Death’s” Individual Thought Pattern” was musically technical, it’s still soft for Death Metal. In fact, as Cannibal Corpse shortly appeared in Jim Carey’s movie “Ace Ventura” and Morbid Angel showed up in MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball” program for promotion purposes, the assimilation of Death Metal by the mainstream became increasingly serious. 1.2-3 Development of Black Metal

Early Black Metal started from a small circle in Norway. This circle included some of the early important Black Metal bands including Mayhem and Burzum. Early Black Metal contained anti-Christian lyrics, blasphemous themes and resorted to native Norwegian culture. At this time, Arseth of Mayhem was notorious because of his anti-social deeds. There were some church burning accidents in Norway; Arseth confessed to the crimes and became police’s attention. Meanwhile, the members of the Black Circle also threatened some Death Metal bands touring in Norway because they thought these bands were not evil enough. What drew the national attention was a suicidal incident as one day the vocalist Dead of Mayhem shot himself with a gun in his house. Arseth, who was also a Mayhem member, took the picture of it with a Polaroid instead of calling the police. Arseth even collected the broken skulls of Dead and other members, using them as necklace. What was more shocking was that Varg murdered Arseth presumably over verbal disputes in 1993. Arseth was found with 23 knife wounds in his back. Varg defended himself by saying that his actions were out of self defense, because Arseth tried to kill him. Varg also proclaimed that there were financial problems with the first two Burzum album released by Deathlike Silence records owned by Arseth, that led to this incident. Varg was sentenced for 21 years in prison and left the Black Metal Circle. Even in prison, Varg was still able to write songs and release new albums. Varg was going to be released in 2007, and he claimed that his new creation will be back to the early Burzum style.

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The late 90s’s Black Metal was not so brutal and had better recording quality. There was another Black Metal tide rising in Eastern Europe and to everyone’s surprise, the Eastern European Black Metal was full of originality due to the long political suppression. The Eastern European Black Metal was not similar with its Norwegian counterpart, yet it was closer to the early Black Metal style.2

1.2-4 Themes and concepts of Black Metal

In Black Metal, themes such as the praise for darkness and Satan worship were an end in them. It was a special way of expression, as metaphors and symbols are in literature and poems. Metaphors of darkness and hidden premonitions of the unknown future were the two most common subjects in Black Metal. Heavy Metal was in fact deeply influenced by Romantic philosophy and poets like Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Thoreau. Dark side of humanity, the possible existence of the other world, disillusionment of reason and conviction of morality were common themes in Heavy Metal. In fact, these themes arose from some important questions of humanity like life and death, dreams and reality, heaven and hell, hope and despair. On the surface, we see evil and ugliness in Heavy Metal, yet behind these dark clouds, there are silver linings of deep philosophical inquiries and hope. For example, bands like Black Sabbath in the early Heavy Metal history, revealed deep philosophical concerns. In spite of Ozzy Osbourne’s shocking behaviors like biting a bat’s head and their profane album covers, these progenitors of Heavy Metal had planted seeds of artistic and philosophical concerns for others to explore. Their successor, Black Metal, harbored the fruits of its ancestor and cultivated them into a bolder and fuller harvest.

a. Scandinavian folklore

It was from the folklores of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The folklores of Finland had also been much influenced by Scandinavian folklore, yet they retain their distinctive cultural features. Scandinavian folklore also shares similarities with English and German folklores. Belief in the old gods is most distinct in Scandinavian folklore. The most famous god is Odin, who is said to have led the Wild Hunt with Thor (Tor) chasing trolls with his thunder. Some Norse mythologies continue to live on today and are affected by Christianity. The stories are about the lives and doings of these beings, and their interaction with humans, which constitute the major part of Scandinavian folklore. In today’s Black Metal, it is still frequently seen that stories about these gods are written into songs.

b. Norse or Scandinavian mythology

2 The information reference is from Natalie Purcell’s “Death Metal Music: the passion and politics of the subculture”, p23-46.

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It is the pre-Christian religion and legends of the Scandinavian people which include older Germanic paganism and Anglo-Saxon mythology. It is a collection of stories about Northern Germanic tribes that have secret religion with no written scripture. Passed down orally in the form of poetry, these beliefs remain in folklore forms in rural areas to this day. Because of the mystic nature, it provides materials for literary works and movies.

c. The Viking Culture

The Vikings existed between 793 and 1066 AD in Scandinavia and Britain. In this period, the Vikings raided most parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Viking society was based on agriculture and trade. They also emphasized honor both in combat and in the justice system. The long boats used by the Scandinavians were unique. Other Norse peoples, especially those from Sweden, continued the exploration southward from Russian rivers to the Black Sea and on to Constantinople. Because of the valor and the successful revolt against Christianity of the Vikings, modern Black Metal bands have utilized much of the Viking legend as their source of inspiration (like Amon Amarth).

d. The Church of Satan and Satanism

The Church of Satan drew its name from the Christian-Islamic concept of Satan, and claims that every individual can be his or her own god and is responsible for his or her own destiny. It was established in San Francisco on Walpurgisnacht in 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey, who had also been the Church’s High Priest before he died in 1997. After the death of Anton Szandor LaVey, his position passed on to his wife, Blanche Barton. To this day, Barton remains involved in the Church. However, in 2001, she gave her position to members Peter H. Gilmore (the vocalist of an American Black Metal band Acheron) and Peggy Nadramia, the current High Priest and Priestess, who went on to publish The Black Flame, the official magazine of The Church of Satan. Many celebrities have been associated with the Church of Satan, including Jayne Mansfield , King Diamond (vocalist of a famous Black Metal band, Mercyful Fate), Marilyn Manson (pop singer), Boyd Rice, vocalist Matt Skiba, professional wrestler Balls Mahoney, and journalist Michael Moynihan (author of the book “ Lord of Chaos”).

e. Other forms of Extreme Metal Doom Metal: It is a slow and painful, often gothic in its music form. Its rhythm is slightly slower than Heavy Metal, yet it stresses the mournful, sad feelings in music by using guttural vocal sound and keyboard’s string effects. Usually, power and speed are not the most important elements in Doom Metal, the fabrication of the heavy and gloomy

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atmosphere is the sole and most crucial task. Power Metal: It is a Heavy Metal genre that crosses Speed Metal and Punk. The rhythm of Power Metal is usually fast, and its music strong, heavy with fast guitar solos. Compared with Speed Metal, Power Metal emphasizes the bass sounds and guitar solos. It incorporates punk’s simple rhythmic structure with Metal’s speed and power. The themes in Power Metal are usually positive and optimistic philosophies on life. Speed Metal: Speed Metal developed in the late 70s. It is a type of Heavy Metal with more melody and guitar solos. It appeared in the time when Punk gradually died out and lost its influence. Speed metal inherits guitar solo and various drum fill-ins from traditional Heavy Metal and evolved a longer, more complicated musical structure. Pioneering bands like Iron Maiden has brought melody and narrative tempos to Heavy Metal; Motorhead has brought proto-punk progressive elements and connects its music with the biker culture and narrative of nihilism in modern society. Grindcore: Grindcore is the subsequent development of Death Metal. It arose from hardcore Punk and Thrash metal. It sought a more extreme and provocative feeling of souls tortured in pain and despair. Like Death Metal, Grindcore utilizes fast tempo, barchords colliding at high speed, dissynchronized and downtuned guitars and guttural howls of vocals to cause feelings of chaos, confusion and indifference. Yet there is more rhythmic repetition in Grindcore, and it repeats the heavy chorus more frequently than Death Metal. Famous Grindcore bands includes Napalm Death and Carcass from England. When the genre was founded, it soon attracted both Punk players and Metalheads. Even today, with Death Metal gradually dying out, Grindcore retains its vitality and is still played by many today. f. National Socialist Black Metal

In the beginning, Nazi-Skinheads were a right wing subculture that developed in England in the early 80s’. They were usually racist, conservative, and anti-semic. They emerged at a time when the U.K was experiencing the second wave of Punk. The second wave punk movement antagonized against the commercialization of the first wave. Punk’s political position is in fact ambivalent. The first wave Punk was exploited by the mainstream media and the commercial market. The left-wing groups created the image of Punk as social activists. However, the revival of the second wave was utilized by the right wing. The merge between Black Metal and skinheads was a

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coincidence. The anti-authoritative claims in black metal were used by skinheads as a pure source of energy and revival- the revival of pure violence toward Semitic enemies. The vocalist of the founding Black Metal band “Burzum”, believed in Nazi creeds himself. His burning churches and killing were therefore a manifest of such beliefs. It is noticeble that Black Metal also helped the spread of New-Nazism in a more secure way.

1.2-5 Musical and Performative Characteristics

Music

Blast Beats- Blast beats are torrents of alternating snare and bass which increase the speed of death metal. Drummers play blast beats as bass-snare-bass-snare procession really fast, while hitting a hi-hat or a ride on the bass drum. Double bass is used very frequently in order to create extreme power and shock. Usually the double bass part is supposed to be twice or more as fast than the snare beating. It takes lots of practice to keep perfect timing and control over the snare and the double bass drum.

Fast Strum: It is a technique involving whipping the pick lightly across the bottom three strings of the guitar for power chord to make a “scream” and distorted effect. It was first used by Slayer and then perfected by Morbid Angel and others. Now this style is so advanced that it can be used to encode polyrhythmic data within a dominant rhythm, and is often used for foreshadowing by metal guitarists.

Double Bass- Double bass appeared very early in the late 70s, however, it was the rise of death metal that made drummers excel in the skill. It means playing two drum pedals at the same time regardless of whether there being two bass drums or not. With the aid of both feet, the bass drum could be played at a very fast speed and could deliver a very powerful and even deafening sound. In the beginning, there were just few drummers that could show this skill in the recording like Paul Mazurkewicz of Cannibal Corpse and the drummer of Deicide.3 Yet as time moved on, the extreme fast double bass playing became almost indispensable for every Death Metal drummer in the circle.

1.2-6 Stage Performance elements

Corpse paint

Corpse Paint is a style of black-and-white makeup used by Black Metal bands during live concerts along with photos portraying an imagery of evilness and

3 The information is from the website allmusic com. Please see http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:11957.

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decadence. In the beginning, it was used to imitate the dead corpse when living people went on trips into the underworld. Although sometimes mistaken for the glam metal makeup, the use of corpse paint is in fact meant to make one look as terrifying as possible. Celtic Frost was the first Black Metal group to use such kind of make up. There are also earlier precedents like The Misfits and King Diamond of Merciful Fate who used similar makeup in the early 80's. Today corpse paint has almost become a privileged mark of Black Metal fans to show their uniqueness, originality and freedom.

Armors and Weapons

Armors and weapons are used by Black Metal artists in the concerts for a sense of power, strength and violence. The use of assorted weapons may be the biggest difference between Heavy Metal and other Rock genres. From the very beginning, Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath had used knives and chains to show the male prowess. Then, many metal bands utilized swords, axes, chains, spears and other weapons to show their power and invincibility. The weapons in Black Metal are usually bigger and heavier to show that they are the most powerful among other people. It is said that sometimes these weapons would have fans injured, yet it happens only accidentally. Usually, fans would be more excited with the aid of these weapons.

1.3 A History of Black Metal in Taiwan

Before the rise of Internet, the early circulation of Black Metal music started from some record stores in Taipei. Metal fans gather in stores like “Crossroads”, “Han-Chiang” and “Rock Plaza” to collect CDs and meet friends. The first meaningful event during this period was the founding of the Skeleton Town- the first BBS discussion board for Metal fans to chat and exchange information instantly. The reason why the founding of this board was important is that it was the only computer-based information source. It transcends the time-space barrier to form a virtual metal alliance. The board masters like Freddy Lin and Death, have been helping promote the Metal development and performance to this day. We can set July 1994 as the official beginning of Taiwanese Black Metal music.

After the founding of the Skeleton Town, several Black Metal bands had appeared. Forbidden Ground and Intuition appeared before Chthonic- the most successful Black Metal band today. They mainly performed at Metal pubs in Taipei. However, they did not gain success because even Rock and Metals did not support them. The drought continued from 1996 to 1998. Bands like Forbidden Ground, Intuition, “Du-Ing-Sha”「獨陰煞」 and Chthonic confronted bottlenecks like losing audience and creativity, tire of performance and worries about the future. Also, the

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failure of Metal artists also cast shadow on their minds. However, Freddy Lin of Chthonic still seized the opportunity to promote live performance in this period. In 1998, the first Metal festival “Metal Immortal” held in Vibe was an enormous success. Later on, “Metal Immortal” became one of the important annual metal concerts. Beside, with the rise of the Internet, people had the chance to know more about the Black Metal music. In 1999, on one discussion board in Taiwan Culture Station, Black Metal fans engaged in a serious debate with Christians. Although most of the language used was quite vulgar, the meaning of this incident was that through Internet and fans’ efforts, black metal gradually became known to the people outside the small circle. As there was a burst of Black Metal from the end of 1998 to 2001, nearly 10 Black and Death Metal bands existed on the scene: Catacomb, Apocalypse, The Curse, Manum, Black Messiah, Chthonic, Anthelion, Disaster, Sky Burial, The Seventh Symphony and Hercules. As mentioned before, some people were influenced by the information on the Internet, some were just influenced by Freddy Lin of Chthonic. Chthonic released their first album in 1999. This was the first album solely made for metal in the Taiwanese Rock history. This album brought Chthonic a big success. Their albums in Tower Records in Taipei were completely sold out and their performances were crowded with people.

Freddy also organized several activities including Metal Immortal, Spring Scream Stage Rock at the same time. He is one of the most important music organizers in the Rock and Heavy Metal circle. The later development of Taiwanese Black Metal was highly influenced by the “external” factors. First of all, it was the rise of the Internet that helped Black Metal fans meet and gather information. Also, the invention of MP3 helped listeners choose what they like due to the convenience of the format. Third, it was the social changes that helped subculture like Black Metal develop. Besides personal efforts, we may also give credit to the indigenization movement, the appropriation of youth by DPP, the incorporation of Western and Japanese cultures into the popular music market and the merging of the local record companies with international labels. Although Black and Death metal is just a minor musical genre, its history still shows that the influence of society is indispensable to the development of Rock. 1.3-1 Censorship and confrontations

In the beginning, when Heavy Metal was first introduced into in the late 1970s, it had refreshed and pushed the idea of rebellion and originality of Rock a step further, and attracted many young people into listening to Rock music. The reason why Heavy Metal attracts young people is still based on the relation between Rock and youth. There are several reasons determining the rise of Rock. Firstly, it is about the baby

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boomer phenomenon in the post-war western society. In the U.S, in the mid 1950s, when these babies grew into teenagers, they were nurtured and financially supported by their parents. Therefore, their financial capabilities gradually made them influential consumers in the popular music market. Secondly, because these teenagers wanted to be identified and struggled to position themselves in the society, they are attracted by the rural and anti-elitist elements involved in Rock (Grossberg 1992). Rock offers youngsters a place to release their boredom and anxiety toward adulthood. Although Rock was influenced by folk culture, it was still born out of popular music, which means that there is an ambivalent quality in Rock- it claims folk values like authenticity and originality in the commercial popular music market. These qualities make Rock especially attractive to young people because Rock gives them a space of transitions to channel drudgery in daily life. Rock helped them release anger, escaping from the alienation of daily life and surveillance from parents. Rock helped the postwar youth reconstruct their effective identification, and the involvement of youth in Rock also contributed to the change of styles in Rock. As Grossberg said, the mutual articulation between youth and Rock makes Rock “a culture of transitions into a transition of cultures” (179). Rock has continued to go through various changes of stratification and stylization. Heavy Metal is this “product” of change. When Heavy Metal emerged in the late 70s, Rock music had already become a major music genre. Heavy Metal, like Rock, was much concerned with social issues and problems, which made up the basis for popularity among young people. Moreover, the rebellious and indulgent attitudes highlighted by this type of music incurred attention and confrontation from other groups of people in society. The relation of Heavy Metal and youth is one of the most important issues in this study. 1.3-2 Politics and commercialization

As mentioned earlier, there was an ironic side about Rock. On one hand, its development depended on the mass consumption of CDs and tapes to maintain the market. On the other hand, it was also the purchase activity that created the sense of freedom, rebellion and independence. As Keir Keightley (1996) put it, Rock has to make distinction in popular culture rather than make distinction between popular culture and elite culture. According to Keightley, the term “Rock” consists of historical context, audience, critical discourse and people’s practices in the industry. These elements formulate our understanding and perception of Rock music. Because of its various components, there is no final definition to Rock. We may have some general ideas, but what can be defined as rock may vary with time and points of view (Keightley 159). Two issues are worth further attention. At first, since there are always musicians insisting on values like authenticity and originality in Rock, the

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transition between different definitions is itself a political struggle. It is not just struggles over definition, but also a struggle among different ideas and generations. Youngsters in the 60s who became adults in the 70s also faced attacks on their beliefs. Generation by generation, Rock continues to renew its form and revamp its content according to the situation of the youth and the social definition it confronts. This struggle is more violent in the case of Heavy Metal. The violence, destruction, despair and disillusion in Heavy Metal reflect the problems that young people face in the society. Violence and despair are not the problems in them but the symbolic representation of inner feelings. As Keith Harrell indicates, living in the post industrial society, youngsters are confronted with more risks and uncertainty and thus become numbed and indifferent to life. The meaning of listening to Death Metal is to empower themselves. By putting audience on a conflicting moral ground- an “us” versus “them” situation, Death Metal enables fans to reverse the balance of power and thus helping them justify their conditions (Harrell 1994).

On the other hand, the image of rebellion and non-conformity is itself marketable. The example of Elvis Presley is an obvious one in early history. Not only do youngsters need to look for the next idol, the capitalists also need such kinds of people to profit from. “Is Rock for real or for sale?” becomes another political battleground. In summary, the issues discussed in the study include: the development and history of Black and Death Metal in Taiwan, its relation with youth and society and debates regarding underground versus mainstream music. It is endeavoured that this study will help create a clear contour. The beginning chapter is about history and the people I have interviewed. The subsequent chapters comprise of questions engendered during the research, and some proposed answers to which this study will hopefully also give a glimpse of. 1.3-3 Repression and heterogeneity in culture

On repression, the theory of psychoanalysis offers a repertoire of analysis and insights. In the first place, what have been repressed does not escape, but are “stored” in the sub-consciousness. Through dreams, jokes, forgetfulness, humor, misplacement of words the previously repressed materials are possible to break the censorship of conscious mind and are able to be revealed. Besides, there are other ways in which the repressed materials cast influence on psychology and daily life, presented as symptoms and anxiety. There is a complex mechanism of repression, symptoms, anxiety and other manifestations in everyday life. Sigmund Freud had argued that we are threatened with suffering from three roots: from our own body, which is doomed to deterioration and dissolution and for which pain and anxiety are indispensable warning signals; from the external world, which may rage against us with

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overwhelming and merciless force of destruction; and finally, from our relations to other men (Freud 1927). The symptom of pain will appear whenever the part of the body concerned is touched from outside, even when the pathogenic situation is associatively activated form within (112). In our mental life, nothing which has once been formed can perish- everything is somehow preserved and in suitable circumstances (when, for instance, repression goes back far enough), it can once more be brought to light (69).

In culture, dominant values would repress the minor ones. Such repression could be both visible and invisible. From the point of view of repression, mentality and value systems are more important for research topics. While the study of everyday life follows tactics and strategies of Michel de Certeau, another method that is rather neglected is the psychology of people. As Freud says, psychoanalysis plays a very important part in the understanding of everyday life. It is with this motivation that the field research is preferred, because most of the theses about popular music focus on theoretical construction and literature research, while in a way the reality of the members are misinterpreted and “repressed” by abstract theoretical terms. As a rule, in the cultural field of study as well as in society, social homogeneity could be precariously at the mercy of violence (Bataille 1933, 1979). The homogeneity forms spontaneously in the play of productive organizations, yet is constantly protected from various unruly elements that do not benefit from production, or not enough to suit them, or simply, cannot tolerate the checks that homogeneity imposes on the unrest. In such conditions, as Bataille argues, the protection of homogeneity lies in the recourse to imperative elements which are capable of obliterating the various unruly forces or bringing them under the control of order (124).

However, at the moment people of the homogenous order rejoin the heterogeneous formations that already exist in either a diffused or an organized state, they then acquire from the latter a new character- the general positive character of heterogeneity. What is more, the social heterogeneity does not exist in a formless and disoriented state but on the contrary, in a split-off structure; when “social elements pass over to the heterogeneous side, their action still finds itself conditioned by the actual structure of that side” (125). Hence, the study of homogeneity and the condition of its existence thus necessarily leads to the survey of how heterogeneity is simultaneously constructed as Bataille proposes. Such a study constitutes the first phase in the sense that the primary determination of heterogeneity defined as non-homogenous supposes a knowledge the homogeneity that delineates it by exclusion (125). Inspired by Breuer, Freud (1927) regards the pathological symptoms the manifestations of patients’ mental life that is also the key of relief. Freud described the relation between dreams and symptoms as follows:

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If they force themselves upon our notice at ant point, we discover by analyzing the symptom which has been produced that these normal thoughts have been submitted to abnormal treatment: they have been transformed into the symptom by means of condensation and the formation of compromises, by way of superficial associations and in disregard of contradictions, and also, it may be, along with the path of regression. In view of the complete identity between the characteristics features of the dream-work and those of psychical activity which issues in psychoneurotic symptoms, we feel justified in carrying over to dreams the conclusions we have been led to hysteria. We according borrow the following thesis from the theory of hysteria: a normal train of thought is only submitted to abnormal psychical treatment of the sort we have been describing if an unconscious wish, derived from infancy and in a state of repression, has been transferred on to it. In accordance with this thesis we have constructed our theory of dreams on the assumption that the dream-wish which provides the motive power invariably originates from unconscious- an assumption which, as I myself readily admit, cannot be proved to hold in general, though neither can it be refuted. But in order to explain what is meant by ‘repression’, a term with which we have already made play so many times, it is necessary to proceed a stage further with our psychological scaffolding. (598) The unconscious is the larger sphere. Which includes within it the small sphere of the conscious. Everything conscious has an unconscious preliminary stage; whereas what is unconscious may remain at that stage and nevertheless claim to be regarded as having the full value of psychical process. The unconscious is the true psychical reality; in its innermost nature it is as much unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is as incompletely presented by the data of consciousness as is the external world by the communications of our sense organs. (613)

The study of Extreme Metal is an attempt of “symptom analysis” on the homogeneity formation of the popular music in Taiwan. The exclusion of Heavy Metal fits best to the inquiry of repression and homogeneity that people may question the underlying principles of the local popular music circle, since any type of cultural formation utilizes certain discursive practices while excluding others at the same time. In Taiwan, the study of Rock and popular music centers mainly on the following aspects- first, popular music products being a form of commodity that marketing strategies, distribution, promotion and advertisement schemes, are the focal points of such

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researches. For example, Chen Shu-Yi’s master thesis “The Taiwanese popular music and mass culture” (1992) discusses the trinity of artists, marketing and distribution of the popular music industry. She discusses how powerful such system is in promoting the artists as well as the record sales. Chou Chi-Fen’s “Deciphering the idol worship”(1994) analyzes the commercial operation, consumer psychology and the particular comforts idol worship may bring the teenagers. He concludes that popular music industry is a mixed blessing that may contribute to the empowerment of teenagers as it may worsen their reliance on commodity consumption simultaneously.

Valence Lee, focuses in particular on the mode of production and distribution of the independent music record companies, centering on how the diverse and fragmented distribution networks of underground music works to spread information and distribute materials; and how some people in the circle, by their invaluable effort in making connections contributing to the development of certain music genre. Nien Li-Wen’s thesis discusses the production mode of Chthonic and Jiao-Gong (who work together in Hakanese), how they cooperate and compromise with the commercial institution, and how they succeed by systematically developing their own distribution access and promotional strategies.

The other dimension regards popular music as a cultural form that carries certain meaning, thought and ideology in particular period under the socio-political influence. This aspect claims that popular music is a part of the cultural formation in which socio-political values struggle for authenticity and legitimacy. This view is consistent with Antonio Gramsci in the hegemonic construction and struggle, and Louis Althusser’s ideological apparatus, that the cultural field is the potential site for hegemonic action and ideological dominance. However; since there is certain autonomy and changes of resistance in Gramsci and Althusser’s theoretical construction, the dominance in popular music and cultural field is not thorough. Hence, this aspect of study not only explores the construction of political and economic forces, but tends to reveal the agency of the audience, players and listeners. Chang Chao-Wei’s “Who is singing there-The History of the Taiwanese Folk Song movement” (1994) is the most representative one of this type of research. In the study, he carefully analyzes the rise and fall of the Folk song movement with the shift of political ideology and social change. The defect of this aspect of research is that it lacks serious discussion of musical aesthetics, of how melody, rhythm or progression could also be part of the struggle. Aiming specifically at the idea of resistance and agency, this type of research highlights genres like Punk by glorifying the resistance, DIY spirit and defending for the youth rebellion. Their blindness has certain autocracy.

The extreme example is seen in Chang Tie-Chi’s book “Can Rock and Roll

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change the World?” (2003), which, on page 61, declares that the glamorous performing techniques of Heavy Metal bands such as Led Zepplin fails to reflect the youth’s frustration and anger; they are isolated from the society. He claims that only Punk reveals the spirit of Rock, and only Punk fulfills the youth’s ideal to play music, it is the DIY spirit of Punk that is able to resist the commercial dominance (Chang 2003).4 One of the drawbacks of the “socialist” studies is that they over-glorify the spirit of rebellion, ideological struggles and musical authenticity. Nevertheless, they fail to see that in the cultural filed, every factor and discourse help to shape the developing profile. Even the academic discourse cannot be immunized from this structural cause. The merits and disadvantages of the socialist discourse contribute to the elevation of particular genres while carelessly repressing other types of Rock. To a more extreme extent, the socialist method is not that advantageous than the idealization of the commercial ideology. There are still other researchers studying popular music based on the two above-mentioned frameworks:

On the theme of resistance, Chou I-Chen (1995) focuses on the political subjectivity and popular culture, she contends that in the cultural field, both the lyrics, song styles and social changes are mutually constructed. She argues that the theme of resistance cannot be separated from the social context; the music style and themes reflect the subjective positions of certain group of consumers, and work as their reaction to the social conditions.

Chen Kai-Tung (2004) reexamines the relationship of commercial popular music and the “independent” music circle in the scope of culture value, cultural industry and culture policy. He addresses the efficacy of the term “independent music” and then analyzes the background of its development. He argues that the idea of progress on music, is decided internally and externally, both by the reflection of players toward

4中文原文如下：「音樂上，搖滾樂雖是六零年代青年反文化的體現，到了七零年代已經與年輕人

生活脫節。不論是重金屬的齊柏林飛船(Led Zepplin)，或是前衛搖滾Pink Floyd，都強調高超的演

奏技巧、華麗的舞台效果或是深奧的概念性專輯。這些龐大沉重的恐龍所生產的音響，早已無法

表達年輕人的挫折感與憤怒。相對的，龐克強調的是懂三和弦即可組團，且相對於那些超級樂隊

的大舞台，七零年代中期在英國興起許多小pub讓這些樂團可以隨性演奏。所以龐克音樂是音樂

的生產到表演都是DIY精神，讓任何年輕人都可以實現玩音樂的夢想。他們要挑戰六零年代以降

日益強大的音樂商業建制，打破職業表演者的界線，並讓音樂的詮釋權回歸普羅大眾」。張鐵志。

《聲音與憤怒：搖滾樂是否可能改變世界？》。台北市：商周出版，二零零四年，頁六十一。

本文特別指出這樣的論述篇章，意不在指責不能有這樣的評論視野；相反的，筆者頗認同這樣的

論述與英雄化樂手的歷史敘述所需的道德勇氣。然而，不論再怎樣的強調詩意與悲壯，都忽略了

從音樂本身來看樂種的獨特性。並且，當本地學術圈的搖滾論述都一窩蜂的崇尚這種方式來談論

搖滾，進而學舌的變成一種耽溺時，筆者懷疑搖滾實際的發展史和豐富性反而因此被埋葬。

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the society and how much resources from greater circumstances are given to the players.

Chuang Yu-Lin (2004) illustrates the cultural resistance of the Black Hand Nakasi Worker's Band as to conclude that music is a way of self-transformation and conversation. In the study, it is an important medium for the players as they get into the struggle of the labor and other social movements.

Chen Chin-Wen (2005) explains the independent music exhibited at Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival in view of cultural governance. She criticizes how the carnivalesque rock festival is being misused by politicians and becomes awfully commercialized. From the audience’s point of view, she infers that such festival should be held by civil institutions to lessen the commercial influence, and thus the rebellion of youth may be reserved.

Tai-Yun (2005) analyzes the practice of the independent record companies in Taiwan- “A case Study of The White Rabbit Record”. She finds that production, consumers and the interaction among fans and players are important for all the participants. She argues that the economic weakness of the independent players force them to have to find out other survival strategies, either through production mode, technology or cooperation with the so-called mainstream market.

Chen Jian- Ning (2005) notes the impact of digital music on the pop music industry. Because the digitalization of music has structually changed the profile of the industry, both companies and producers are influenced when evaluating the values of the products. Hence, the integration, cooperation and competition among artists and performers have all being reformulated.

Kuo-Yung Jen(2006) analyzes the new paradigm of the popular industry, he argues that the pirated records and technology have influenced the industry. However, they also help to reshuffle the old production mode while stimulating the new one. Based on this assumption, he argues that there is a new paradigm forming in the industry from the late 90s onward.

To complement the arguments of the above-mentioned studies, methods such as field work and the discussion of musical aesthetics are employed in this study. In part it is because of the research of Extreme Metal requires in-depth observation and insiders’ opinions. Furthermore, the diversity of the discussions in Heavy Metal suggests that there should not be a universal comment on what is the most “authentic” Rock genre, as suggested by the above-mentioned researches. What we have concluded may be just a general profile of the music circle, which may be influenced by individual definition, the evolution of music and is always context-specific. Admittedly, the general principle of these studies is subject to a number of qualifications, including a requirement for the account to be taken in determining the

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epistemologies of the thesis or the visibility of the research topics. In the researches mentioned above, the “style” may precede the choice of methodologies. Thus research of this kind does not necessarily offer first-hand observation or explain actual circumstances. The essential difficulty with this kind of study is that it favors certain courses of arguments, which may result in a wrongful inference. Therefore, whatever is intellectually original in popular music study may face problems of discursive choice of choosing epistemologies due to the undue emphasis on the social or commercial sides of discussions. All of these aspects suggest that the potential absence of any significant studies of Rock and popular music is a matter not of concept, but of organization, of structure and the preference of academic institutions. To speak frankly, there should be nothing inherent in the appreciation of Rock as to exclude Metal from being the subject of research. During these years few attempts were made to reconsider the inadequacy of the directions mentioned above. What is more, once these methods had adopted the popular viewpoint, the actual situation and vitality of Rock and popular music would in fact be distorted and disturbed. There has been no critic commenting on this insufficiency, nor has there been any doubt on the preference of subjects and theories by scholars. Whereas issues such as the pleasure and aesthetic of music have been formally excluded from the academic circle, they remain interstitially dynamic, and these activities are still important for people even if they have not been spoken. The essential point is that different methods of doing popular music is possible, ranging from the choice of subject to the entire construction of new theoretical framework, thus giving rise to the new dimension of the local studies. It is erroneous to think that it is possible to eliminate the significance from other kinds of popular music studies in academic research. 1.4 Research Method

The author began this research as a participant and observer. Because it is impossible to gather information by mere literature gathering, he entered the circle as a common audience, and then as a friend. He would talk with the performers and other audiences after the performance, and then made their acquaintance. He raised my questions until interviewees trusted him. The fieldwork took the form of personally participating in the events being studied. It can take several forms depending on what role the researcher plays. In my study, this author participated as an observer/participant for most of the time, yet on some occasions, he participated as a full member participant because of the friendliness and invitation from my interviewees; on other occasions, he participated as a working staff to help get the performance working; and yet in others, he participated just as a normal audience without any relevance to the people on the scene. There are four roles of observers in

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Gold’s notion: complete observer, observer-as-participant, the participant-as-observer and complete participant. In this study, this author was a complete observer in the beginning. As he grew to know my interviewees, he became an observer-as-participant. Therefore, according to the different roles this author took, the relations of familiarity were also varied. He would not reveal my role as a researcher in the beginning. The revealing of my position still depended on the involvement and importance of the people related to the Death Metal scene in Taiwan. Because of the divergent relations among interviewees, the questions this author gathered were sometimes discrete in the process. The more he got involved the more he found it’s difficult for me to organize a clear problematic. It was only near the end of investigation that this author was able to form a meaningful problematic. Due to the complexity of this scenario, his ideas are not insightful, yet he believes they can work as viable points of view to stimulate further discussion. 1.4-1 Members interviewed in the study Nuno

Nuno is the owner of “Nuno’s Live House” and also the vocalist of “ The Leading Voice”. From the beginning, he shared a lot of similar ideas on subjects ranging from music style to activities in Taiwan with the author. He has also taken charge of several music festivals here. His most favorite music genre is 80’s Heavy Metal. Nuno told the author that the reason why he likes the 80’s Heavy Metal is first because it was an burgeoning age for Metal; during this time, Heavy Metal entered the mainstream market and was accepted by the public. Seeing metal on Billboard top 20 was not strange. Also, it was an age for metal skills to develop. Masters with virtuosos appeared also, though probably just by coincidence. For guitars, there was Eddie Van Halen, who invented the tapping skill, which remains indispensable for today’s guitarists. For playing styles, there was Yngwie Malmsteen who opened a new field called “Classical Heavy Metal”. For drums there was Ingo Schwichtenberg for the pioneering use of double pedals that becomes so essential in today’s Death Metal. In fact, the 80’s Heavy Metal was also the first encounter with Metal for Nuno and the author. As teenagers, they looked to the ’80’s Heavy Metal for a fantasy and escape from the school boredom. Talking with Nuno is always intelligible to this author.

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Chthonic

Chthonic started with many difficulties. They faced a lot of transitions of players because of discrepancies in musical ideas among members. The Chthonic now- a band highlighting Taiwanese identity - is the result of several transformations. In the beginning, the vocalist Freddy Lin had showed his concern for the development Taiwanese culture. Freddy was interested in the Taiwanese culture even when he was a mere high school student. The founding of Chthonic, and later working as the board master in “Skull Castle”, were the gradual steps toward his high school dreams to promote the Taiwanese subjectivity and consciousness. Freddy also did a lot work introducing during his board master era. He wrote many articles and record critics. He also held many activities to gather fans around Taiwan. According to Death, the activities then were fun enough. Freddy would host the events in Taiwanese and fans would just tell jokes and stories about music. In the early stage of Extreme Metal development, the Skull Castle BBS played a very important role as a router of information. The board masters were also critical for introducing and spreading the knowledge of this type of music to other people, just like what Freddy did. Besides being a vocalist in Chthonic, Freddy was also a main promoter of several Rock festivals in Taiwan. These festivals, now welcomed by common people and supported by the government, faced much harsher conditions in the beginning. As Freddy recalled, he did his best to make these festivals going on despite financial deficit. He even had to sell souvenirs like T-shirts and records to mend the budget black hole. Therefore, these festivals would not be successful were it not for Freddy’s passion for

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music and perseverance for personal ideals. In 2003, Chthonic had received the best band trophy in the Golden Melody Award- the most important music award in Taiwan. This glory was the best support and reward for Freddy and Chthonic’s persistence. The success of Chthonic also cast a vast influence on later Black Metal bands after 2000. Now Chthonic is preparing for their next album, and the Taiwanese culture is still their main concern.

Disaster

Among all interviewees, the author spent the most time and shared the most common ideas with members of Disaster, whether in musical tastes, philosophies on life and recreational interests. Meeting them was a pure coincidence. In the beginning, the author just interviewed them for the research purposes. However, as time went by, the members and the author formed a comrade-like friendship, sharing lots of ideas besides music involving life experiences, personal values, emotional experience and opinions. First of all, Death/Black Metal for them is a way to experience deeper feelings like hatred and anger, they listen to them to experience these emotions and then release it. Although themes of darkness and rage are symbols of Death/Black Metal music, they exist in fact in people’s everyday life. People all have chance to experience anger, frustration, hatred, pain. Music works as a vessel to vent it out. So with Disaster, when this author asked them what this kind of music meant to them for the first time, the guitarist just gave a dim answer “music is life”. Afterwards, when the author became more and more familiarized with the members, he had a chance to experience all kinds of incidents with them; this author knew that their music is in fact the representation of all their emotions. Music plays an important role in their life for it helps them to overcome anger and frustration. Members of Disaster experienced these negative emotions in everyday life, they then vent it out through music. Therefore, the purpose of playing Extreme Metal is to transcend something negative in life, instead of a wayward release. Disaster’s music is not just a release of anger, they also express their concerns for society and criticism toward politics. In their song

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“Lamb”, they expressed a story of being wrongly arrested by the police. In the song “Innocence”, they mourn for the inability to change the world. The members of Disaster don’t possess enough educational resources; however, their music is the direct manifestation of their worldviews. The reason why they choose Metal is because they think that Metal is musically strong enough to match their deep feelings inside. Music for them is fun, joyful, and a representation of their philosophy on life. It also helps them experience different kinds of emotions. This is the most important impact music has on them.

Death

Death is another important person the author encountered in the fieldwork. The first impression she made struck the author as smart, charming and enthusiastic. Her attitude toward music is quite different from that of Disaster’s. To Disaster, Metal is used as a vent for anger and dissatisfaction toward society. Yet for Death, music is generally about passion and fun. Metal’s fast tempos and speeding double bass drums epitomizes her personality, for she is a very active person who dare to pursue whatever she desires. The interviews between Death and Disaster were different, too. The atmosphere during the interview with Disaster was a bit heavy because members generally talked of sadness and unbearable burdens in life. Yet the interview with Death was quite another matter. The atmosphere was light yet strange in a way. Generally, this author raised some questions on politics, critical issues or music’s societal context. However, this author found it quite inappropriate to raise these questions. Metal for Death is totally happy stuff. She listens to Metal just to feel the power and speed in it. That just makes her feel invigorated and energized. For her, having fun is the most important factor why she chose Metal as her favorite kind of music. It functions as a way to experience fun and a way to know people. Therefore, social and political issues in music are quite unfamiliar to her because she doesn’t understand the use of these issues in music, and it’s not the reason that she digs into Metal music. By going to live shows and talking to people on the Internet, she came to know a lot of people from different nations and thus furthered her interest in Metal

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because it brings her a lot more fun. For Disaster, maybe gloom is the term for them, yet for Death, fun is the best word to illustrate her choice. It is a pure and totally positive energy that brings her fun and adventures in life.

Anthelion

(Picture is offered by Faya)

Members of Anthelion were the youngest among all the others interviewed. The members are young and rather inexperienced in their musical performance. However, Anthelion members have discipline and ambition. Their performance is quite powerful and their skills are quite experienced. Anthelion’s live shows are among the few that fans look forward to in Taiwan because they are well prepared and always give their best shot in live. Metal for them is also a way to release frustration and anger in life, which also means an important career. For them, Metal is a life-time career. It is not just a channel to release personal feelings. They regard the musical success as overriding and unequaled. Anthelion’s members are very active. They set up plans to perform at different places and plan to record an EP or even an album in the future. During my interview, they already revealed their intention to record an official album in Europe. Therefore, members of Anthelion will undertake two to three part time jobs to provision for the expenses for touring and instruments. For Anthelion, music is not simply just music, it means the utmost achievement one can reach in his life. According to Code, the vocalist of Anthelion, music is the most important thing for him. He takes music as more important than food or sleep. Music is his lifetime pursuit, and he’ll do his best to make his dream come true. Issues like society and politics are not their main concern. They just care about whether they can do better in music. The reason they want to play music is not for money’s sake. Rather, the reason they think so highly of music is because music is what they really care about. They want to show that they can achieve excellence on something they think is most important to them. Music for them is also an important source of self-assurance.

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1.5 Other issues explored 1.5-1 Ideology of Rock

According to Lawrence Grossberg (1993), effect is both psychological and material. It demands that we speak of the body and of discursive practices in their materiality. This foregrounding of affect is also probably connected with my reading of Pierre Bourdieu’s (1990) “The resistance of the popular occurs on terrains altogether different from that of culture in the strict sense of the word…and it takes the most unexpected forms, to the point of remaining more or less invisible to the cultivated eye” (155). Thus, Rock’s identity and effects depend on the appeal of its sound textuality. To describe Rock culture as a formation is to constitute it as a material- discursive and nondiscursive- context, a complex organization of cultural and noncultural practices that produces particular effects, such as forms and organizations of boredom and fun, of pleasure and pain, of meaning and nonsense. The Rock formation cuts across any attempt to divide up the field of popular discourses and practices; bringing together genres, media styles, and so forth. To speak of a formation is also to constitute Rock culture spatially as a particular dispersion of practices across time and space.

Grossberg moves on to say that, the Rock formation has a temporal extension and boundary. It is a historical event and production that emerged at a particular moment, made possible by and in response to specific conditions of possibility. These conditions (social and economic) had given rise to Rock culture but also constrained it at the same time. As these conditions opened up trajectories and transformations of Rock, they also confined it within particular frameworks. Following this logic, Grossberg says that the notion of Rock is dead, is about a discursive haunting within the Rock formation and a possible eventual reality. He assumes that if the Rock formation emerged as a response to particular conditions, then, when those conditions changed and the effects of the discourse within the formation changed, then the set of relations and effects articulated around it would not be the same. The set of relations and effects would be different. Two questions would then arise- Firstly, how is it possible to describe the changes in the formation of Rock? Secondly, what is relationship between social structure and artistic creativity, as well as the possibilities of resistance? In the first place, as the youth became sophisticated and opinionated, the discrepancies of ideas and philosophies on life emerged between them and their parent generation. According to Grossberg, a prevailing generation crisis was one of the factors that defined the content of the youth’s identity. The concepts of social structures that the world offered the youth would seem to fail to incite the youth’s sense of commitment and passion. They face the dilemma of living two lives- one

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defined by the interpretation and institution of the adult world that attempted to incorporate the youth into them; the other was the prospect of following the ideologies and lifestyles of the parent generation.

It was based on this conflict that Rock opened up and offered a possibility of transition to help the youth maintain identification and sense of belonging. By highlighting the sentiment that “something matters”, Rock established a specific definition of authenticity. However, the term “authenticity” is not anything about ideological purity, or does it have an origin. According to Grossberg, the term was a middle-class obsession to compensate for the sense of absence of their authentic past (Grossberg 1992). Because Rock was able to make the youth feel belonged somewhere, it could speak both to the identity and difference of its audience. What Rock did was reconstitute an identity and offer meanings. By articulating the historical condition into a specific audience, the styles of Rock were able to evolve as a response to different demands of authenticity required by various generations of people). “Rock” thus means the entire formation. It includes affective machine, politics of fun, politics and strategy of everyday life (Grossberg 2002).

The definition of authenticity of Rock provides a measure of how Rock differs from other cultural forms. Since the definition of authenticity helps distinguish Rock from other music, it imposed different cultural practices between Rock fans and participants of other art types. This divergence termed as “excess” as Grossberg says, marks the reality and even the legitimacy of the fan’s difference which is often interpreted as Rock’s inexorable tie to resistance, refusal, alienation and marginality (Grossberg 1992). Among all other standards, the most important measure of authenticity is the musical sound. Because Rock was originally made available to the majority of fans through radio and records, the sound is Rock’s primary impression. The ideology of authenticity lies in strategies to redefine the sensibility of youth culture, expanding from music to the entire lifestyle. Starting from the sensibilities felt in the music, Rock music involves subsequent development including definition of authenticity, lifestyles, discourses and ideologies. Rock therefore continually opens up new spaces and centers. Rock must change in order to respond to people’s needs, and reproduce authenticity in new forms. It constantly moves from one center to another to project its authenticity. It is the changes and transitions, which enable Rock to matter, to make a difference, and to empower its fans. The discussion on Grossberg’s concepts needs to be called a temporary end since this study is about Heavy Metal, not Rock. However, the initial investigation of Grossberg’s theory may help to delineate the complicated fissures lying under music and social life. As the study is about the every day life of the performers, Grossberg’s theories play an important role in formulating some important arguments in later

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chapters. 1.5-2 Issues of Culture Industry

Adorno characterizes the culture industry as an “assembly line” mode of production and referred to it as the “synthetic, planned method of turning out its products (factory-like not only in the studio but, more or less, in the compilation of cheap biographies, pseudo-documentary novels, and hit songs) into mere commodities (Adorno and Horkheimer 1979). Adorno (1967) condemned what he called the “pseudo-individuality” in cultural industry because he thought the pleasure obtained from consuming only made people submissive. The needs created under capitalism oppose to the true needs and pleasure such as happiness and freedom. For example, he argues that free improvisation of Jazz performers was a mere display of conceit because “what appears as spontaneity is in fact carefully planned out in advance with machinelike precision” (123). Unlike Adorno, Steve Chapple and Reebee Garofalo (1977) saw the radical potential of popular music connected to the rebellion of youth in opposing authoritarianism. Popular music can provide possibilities for individual as a way of self-expression and communication, thus may consolidate societal stability. Moreover,